A Wideband Full-Metal Sidewall-Loaded Magnetoelectric Dipole Array Based on Combined Ridge and Groove Gap Waveguides in the Q-Band

Abstract

A wideband full-metal sidewall-loaded magnetoelectric (ME) dipole array antenna fed by combined ridge-groove gap waveguide is proposed. Three promising full-metal aperture-coupled 2×2-element ME-dipole subarrays are investigated and compared in detail. By introducing sidewalls around the metal pillars and increasing their height to 0.36λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> , the bandwidth of the subarray is substantially enhanced to 33% for <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">S</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">11</sub> < -15 dB. An eigenmode analysis is performed to explain and validate the broadband property of the proposed subarray with taller pins and sidewalls. The combined ridge gap waveguide and E-plane groove gap waveguide are employed in the feeding layer for a compact array as well as for lower losses and better isolation between the gap waveguides. Wideband ridge-to-groove (RG) and groove-to-ridge (GR) junctions are designed using stepped transformers for bandwidth enhancement. For verification, an 8×8-element sidewall-loaded ME-dipole array is designed and fabricated by computer numerical controlled (CNC) milling technique in the Q-band. The bandwidth for <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">S</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">11</sub> < -10 dB is widened to 35.9% from 34.5 to 49.4 GHz. From 34.3 GHz to 34.7 GHz and 35.6 GHz to 48.7 GHz, the antenna efficiency is better than 75%, with a bandwidth of 32.5%. The proposed design is attractive for wideband and higher-frequency wireless applications.